Sealed With A Kiss
by Ravenclaw Red
Summary: Shikamaru had always told them that chasing after women was like chasing after dreams: no rewards. But he was bored, and she had always amused him. Kiba did, after all, have a soft spot for unruly mutts. Kiba/Ino, Shika/Temari Naru/Hina Neji/Tenten Sasu/Saku


A/N: Revised the chapter and added details. Working on the plot an chapter ideas now. Read and review, please. :)

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"I think…" Her cornflower blue eyes glinted dimly from under her heavy eyelids, her lips set into a straight line that made the pouty pink flesh seem oddly lifeless even when they were a splash of color against her pale skin. "I love you."

His heart clenched inside his chest for a half a second before it pounded so hard against his chest that he could feel the vibrations on the base of his throat. He had been waiting to hear those words for so long ago that he had almost given up. To hear them now, when he least expected them, when he was about to leave to take part in another Godforsaken war, almost brought him down to his knees. But it wasn't really a confession of love. Not the one he wanted to hear, anyways.

"You…think?" He was surprised that speech was available in his state when his heart was hammering against his chest, threatening to split his ribs in order to escape its prison and the collar of the plain white shirt he was wearing seemed to constrict around his neck, stealing his breath away when he needed it the most. "Why aren't you sure?"

She shifted on the spot, her feet stirring the gravel beneath them as she fidgeted. He would've cursed the Gods and the world around them if he wasn't so damned focused on her mouth and the answers he hoped would slip past it. The world seemed to stop; time came to an abrupt halt. Nothing mattered now but her. His eyes fell on her mouth and latched on to her lips, seeking solace in the fact that, while her confession hadn't been what he had expected or yearned from her, it was still better than nothing. She began to mumble under her breath, a hodgepodge of words that even he couldn't hear with his enhanced hearing abilities.

He wasn't sure he could take this anymore, wasn't sure of what he wanted her to say or what he was truly expecting to hear from her, but something told him that what she spoke would change him. For better or for worse he couldn't tell, but he knew that this moment would reveal something important. What it was he didn't know, but he knew it had to be important. He hadn't given it much thought, but now that he stared at her, at those lovely eyes of hers glinting with confusion, fogged with emotions, he could only hope she that what revealed would lift the veil of confusion that held him in place, with her against his chest and his arms wound tightly around her.

"I-" She shifting against his embrace but he wouldn't budge. His arms were a steely cage around her that kept her firmly in her place, trapped against the hard wall of his chest "I don't know what love is."

Of course she didn't. She had never sought any fairy-tale ending after her childhood crush, had absolutely nothing planned for her future after the man had left almost as quickly as he'd come into her life. What she had thought to be love had turned out a childish obsession sprung by attraction and nothing more. The man had never glanced her way after a brief fling, and she had blinded herself with the idea of love being false after that, after she had lost him to her best friend.

Her life was a crumpled blank page, a white sheet of paper that she would slowly have to rewrite, and while he had been her pillar of strength during the last couple of months, he knew that that would never be enough to placate her. She would never ask for more than that from him and he would never press her for more. They were too damned proud for their own good. The images of what would never happen, of all the things that would never be unless she admitted she needed him left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Do you…" Her words were a mere whisper against his shirt, so low they were almost inaudible. He was too stunned by the way his nerves had shot up at the question to wonder why she hadn't asked this before. Why she had never made any effort to keep by his side long enough to find out by herself "Do you love me?"

His eyes lowered to her face, to the tear-stung eyes as he searched for the right words. But he wasn't sure he had words to spare. Everything had gone so wrong since that morning…he was no longer sure of how she would react to him. And he was too afraid of uttering the wrong thing at the wrong time "Isn't it obvious?"

"I don't know." She admitted slowly, her hands circling his waist as she rested her cheek against his chest "I am so confused. I don't know what's wrong or right anymore."

"This is right." his lips brushed against her forehead, pausing at her temple "We are right. This!-" he wasn't sure she had even seen the gesture he'd made with his hand as he pointed at her, then him, what had grown between them, but he still did it, trying to prove a point he hadn't been aware he had until then "Us. We're right. It fits."

"Show me." A watery smile made its way to her face and she tilted her head in offering so that her lips were just inches away from his. "Show me how we fit. Show me where the 'us' goes in this story. I want to know."

"And I want you to find out."

His lids fell and, his head bent down so that the gap between them was closed, and he touched his lips to hers.

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A/N: Do you _want_ to know how this happened? Do you _want_ to know why? Are _you_ curious? Do you _want_ more? Then review and say so and I'll make this a full-blown story. Have a pleasant night, guys.


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